


Something Changed

by superfundsite (orphan_account)



Category: Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Genre: M/M, Post Series VIII, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23608897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/superfundsite
Summary: Rimmer gives up the Ace mantle and comes back to Red Dwarf.
Relationships: Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Something Changed

**Author's Note:**

> I wish we got a scene of Rimmer coming back to the Dwarf after his years of being Ace, but because we never got that, I might as well write it. Can be read as a sequel to my fic Countdown, or stand alone :^).  
> Title comes from the song of the same name by Pulp. A lot of Pulp songs remind me of these two... it's becoming an issue.

"Y'know, I think Ace was right to give you the title, you're gonna be great. Might take you some time to get used to it, but I bet you'll be a great Ace. Like the business with the time drive! That was great, man."

"Yes, well-" 

"How'd you think of that?"

"I thought that- well, I didn't." Rimmer looked down at his boots.  _ I thought of you the whole time I thought of how I missed you already and how I couldn't save you and I'd do anything to see you happy again _

Lister shakes his head. 

"No, you did. You're… you're sharper than you give yourself credit for. C'mon, Rimmer." Lister patted his arm. 

"Listy, I appreciate the pep talk, but all I could think about was," Rimmer looked away shamefully. "I only thought of you. I saw you dead, and I just started moving. I didn't know what I was doing until I was in the engine room and I blew the drive to hell and back, and everything with it. And then I was back here and it was like nothing had happened." 

"Rimmer…." 

"Lister, I… Lister, I can't stay here. I'm going to go. It's not because of obligations to the Ace line, but I don't know if I can stay here and remember what you looked like, laying there… lifeless and cold, I can't-"

"Rimmer!" Lister snapped, grabbing his face, and Rimmer's mouth closed mid sentence. 

"Rimmer, if you have to leave, leave. Go. I don't care why you have to leave, don't care what reasons you have for it. Don't care if it's me, but if it makes you feel better, go. I don't want you to stay here and go mad thinking about what happened. What didn't happen." 

Rimmer looked a bit bleary eyed, and Lister's grip on his face loosened to something softer, tender. He gazed into his bloodshot hazel eyes, and sighed.

"I'm gonna miss you man. Come back soon, right?"

"I… yes. I'll be back before you know it."

Lister smiled. "I'm countin' on ya for that."

\---

The Wildfire spiralled into view on Red Dwarf's monitor, and Lister's eyes widened. 

"Kryten! Cat! He's back! What'd I tell you!?" 

It had been almost five years since he'd last seen Rimmer, and now as he realizes that he's going to see him again, his heart starts doing funny things in his chest. 

Everyone's down at the airlock, peering through the peephole as Rimmer waves hello, and as he's let in, Lister is the first to greet him with a hug, as Cat and Kryten look at each other confusedly, before shrugging.

"I missed you, Rimmer." He whispers, and he feels Rimmer's hologram go fuzzy for a moment. 

"Oh…." Rimmer's breath hitches in his throat, like he has something to say, before the rest of the greeting party butts in, Kryten proudly declaring that he's kept his uniforms pressed and tidy since he's been gone, and Cat sticking up his nose, saying that if Rimmer didn't bring anything back for him after being gone so long, what was the point?

\---

Once the little greeting party had dispersed, Cat had slinked off to take all his suits out of Rimmer's closet he had temporarily borrowed, and Kryten had cleared the table and clunked off to wash the dishes, Rimmer and Lister were left to their own devices.

Rimmer, wigless and dressed in the bakofoil flight suit, hair a bit mussed, but still looking… dreadfully handsome, and Lister felt his heart beat in his chest faster and faster when he had tilted his neck and stretched, showing off that familiar scar on his jaw that made him want to nibble on it and kiss it and-

Where had that come from?

Maybe he was going space crazy.

Rimmer sagged as he sat down on the bed, weight of years dragging him down.

“I never imagined being Ace would be… so damn exhausting.” 

“Big boots to fill, Rimsy.”

“It never seemed to be enough.” Rimmer’s tone was acerbic, and Lister raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit-”

“That’s what you said when I left,” Rimmer said quietly, right leg bouncing like mad, chewing on his bottom lip. “I don’t give myself any credit because I don’t deserve it. I don’t know how I managed out there for a week, much less five years.” He covered his eyes with his hands, and sucked in a deep breath.

Lister isn’t sure what to say, but he has to say something. “You did it though, didn’t you? You carried the legend long enough. It’s okay to feel-well, overwhelmed-”

“Only went because you told me to.”

“What?”

“I only went because you told me to. If it weren’t for that, I would’ve stayed. I wanted to stay.” Rimmer’s voice cracked. “Listy, I wanted to stay with every shrivelled up ounce of my heart. It had only been a few months since the business with the time drive, and everything seemed to go back to normal. I was so sure we were going to die out there, and then it all came back, and we were all together again.”

“Rimmer, you’re a coward, of course you wanted to stay-”

A mad glint in Rimmer’s eye, and then Rimmer began to shout. “It wasn’t cowardice!” He jumped up from his seat on the bottom bunk. 

“It wasn’t smegging cowardice, Lister,” voice high and trembling, as he pointed at Lister incriminatingly. “It was  _ not _ cowardice. It was that I had everything back for one blissful moment and just as soon you told me to leave, because I had an  _ obligation _ to that smug bastard who thought he could waltz in and whisk it all away.” 

“Rimmer, you hated us, you hated every one of us!” It was Lister’s turn to shout now. “I thought that you wanted to leave-”

Rimmer’s nostrils flared. His eyes were absolutely blazing, and Lister felt a bit afraid.

_ ”I didn’t hate you!” _

It rang in Lister’s ears, and Lister stared at him.

“Lister, I didn’t hate you. I could hate everyone else but I could never hate you, I- damnit-” Rimmer’s eyes glistened wetly, and Lister felt his chest begin to ache.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Everything, idiot. Every smegging thing, if you haven’t noticed by now.” Rimmer sniffed. “I… wanted to stay with you. I had you back. You were dead and then you came back and you were pushing me away just as soon. And I didn’t want to leave, because I had you! I had you so close, and it could be just like before, and I could tell you everything I couldn’t tell you before.” 

Lister’s eyes were wide at Rimmer’s outburst, the hologram shaking and staring down at the floor, fists curled tight. 

“What couldn’t you tell me?”

Rimmer murmured something under his breath.

“What?”

Rimmer looked up at him, face wracked with guilt, anguish, and five years of emotional turmoil.

“That I loved you. That I wanted to stay with you not because I was a coward, but because I had you back and I could tell you how much I loved you. You’re the only reason that I went down to the engine room to destroy the time drive. If it had just been Cat or Kryten, I don’t think I would’ve done that. I would have hidden like the coward I was, that I still am, and I wouldn’t have done anything. But it was you, it was you that they took from me, and that was the only thing that mattered in that moment.”

It was silent for a moment. 

“Rimmer….”

“I’ll leave now-”

“No. Stay. You’ve wanted to come back for so long. Stay. Stay here with me.” Lister stepped forwards and took his hands in his own. They were warm, and solid and life-like, and pulled him into a tight hug. 

“I… never realized how much I missed you, until we got Red Dwarf back. And once we got it back, I was just… I felt so empty. No one to fight with, no one to talk to in the middle of the night. No one making time tables and pasting them up everywhere.” Lister laughed softly against Rimmer’s chest, feeling him tremble against him. “It wasn’t the same without you.”

“What about the other Red Dwarf? You had me-”

“But it wasn’t you. It wasn’t the Rimmer that I… that I fell in love with. I don’t think I could have loved him like I loved you.” Lister looked up at Rimmer, who was gazing down at him with a tear-soaked face.

“You mean it?”

“Of course I do, smeghead. I wouldn’t lie about something like this.” Lister reached up to touch his cheek gently with a knuckle, brushing away a small droplet from his skin. “Stay. You passed the mantle on, didn’t you? Just stay. No more being Ace, just being Rimmer.”

“As if that’s supposed to sound appealing,” Rimmer’s voice was thick, and Lister shook his head. 

“To me, it is.” He cranes his neck up, and plants a kiss on Rimmer’s scar. 

Rimmer melts, and hugs Lister tighter.

“Alright. I’ll stay. I’ll be plain old Arnold J. Rimmer again. Just for you, got it?”

“Got it,” Lister whispered and stroked his fingers through Rimmer’s soft hair. “Don’t go running off playing the hero anytime soon, alright?”

Rimmer laughed softly. “Alright.”

They’d be fine, as long as they were together. 

As Red Dwarf continued on its course, a hologram and the last human embraced, neither wanting to let go of the other, and both assured that it was no dream, no simulation. It was real, and it was wonderful.


End file.
